To ensure their teaching quality, it is important for student teachers to undertake self
reflection on their teaching performance after supervised teaching sessions. With the
goal of sharpening the teaching competence of student teachers, a dual function
system that uses web based and video based technologies is being developed to
facilitate self reflection by student teachers and the teaching supervisory role of
teaching supervisors. This article reports on the development of a web enabled video
system for encouraging student teachers to reflect on their teaching performance,
using a guiding framework. The system enables student teachers to self monitor a
video recording process during lessons in teaching practice, and make post-lesson self
reflection without the constraints of time and location. Two key features are provided
by the system to support student teachers and enhance the quality of reflection. One
key feature is a guiding support for self reflection on teaching performance, using a
four-dimension framework comprising curriculum planning and evaluation, pupils
and pupil-teacher interaction, discipline and classroom management, and professional
knowledge of teaching. A second key feature of the system is a 'video bookmark'
function for the operationalisation of the reflective process.

Introduction
To equip pre-service teachers with competence in teaching, teacher education should
not only provide opportunities to build up professional knowledge and skills, but also
encourage reflection on appropriate attitude and strategies for classroom instruction.
To this end, teaching practice activities with teaching supervision sessions frequently
form a part of programs for teacher education. Student teachers can apply the acquired
knowledge and skills in their subject teaching during the lessons in teaching practice,
and also reflect on their teaching attitude and strategies in their subject teaching after
the lessons in teaching practice.

Self reflection after teaching supervision sessions in teaching practice activities is one
of the common approaches for student teachers to ensure their teaching competence.
With the goal of enhancing teaching performance of student teachers, a dual function
system that capitalises on the use of web based and video based technologies is being
developed to foster quality self reflection by student teachers and teaching supervision
of teaching supervisors. This article reports upon its development and key features.

Background to the study
Self reflection is a thinking process in which an individual seriously considers and
thoughtfully judges prior experience of the self. The consecutive engagement in self
Kong, Shroff and Hung 545

reflection commonly leads the self to generate a change in conceptual perspectives
(Atkins & Murphy, 1993; Boyd & Fales, 1983; Dewey, 1933; Kolb, 1984; Schön, 1983,
1987). Self reflection is considered to be crucial to the development process of student
teachers (Hershkowitz & Schwarz, 1999). According to the schema theory of learning
(Anderson, 2005), an individual constructs a mental model on the issue of concern
based on prior experience of the self. In line with this thought, researchers in the field
of teacher education suggest that the opportunities for student teachers to engage in
self reflection after field experience activities enable them to construct their own
mental model of teaching practices, based on their field experiences (Kerr, 1981;
Northfield & Gunstone, 1997). Early studies suggest that it is worthwhile to provide
student teachers with opportunities to self reflect on their teaching performance in
field experience activities, for their personal professional growth and development
(Zeichner, 1983, 1995; Zeichner & Liston, 1996).

For teaching practice activities, student teachers normally engage in self reflection at
the stages of in action and on action (Munby & Russell, 1989, 1993; Russell, 1983; Schön,
1987). Self reflection in action refers to a process in which an individual makes
immediate decisions based on observation in the actions; whereas self reflection on
action refers to a process in which an individual reflects back on the actions and refines
upon the actions. Student teachers usually make a personal automatic reflection
during teaching practice activities; and make review at a particular point in time
through writing reflective journals after teaching practice activities. Early studies
suggest that the capability for effective self reflection on action after lessons in teaching
practice is particularly prominent for fostering self directed learning by student
teachers for two reasons. Firstly, self reflection on action helps student teachers to
improve teaching performance by promoting them to identify the strengths and
weaknesses in classroom (Cook & Duquette, 1999; Garrison, 1992; Schön, 1983, 1987).
Secondly, self reflection on action helps student teachers to enhance professional
growth, by stimulating them to consider the moral and ethical consequences of choices
(Hatton & Smith, 1994; Kagan, 1992; Kettle & Sellars, 1996).

A guiding framework is considered crucial for student teachers to make systematic self
reflection on teaching performance, because student teachers are mostly not discerning
enough to identify the important aspects of teaching practices for their self reflection
(Freese, 1999; Parsons & Stephenson, 2005). Such a framework can serve as a scaffold
to explicitly make prompts for self reflection on teaching work, and thus purposefully
546 Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2009, 25(4)

guide student teachers to reframe their teaching experience. The provision of a guiding
framework for self reflection helps student teachers to avoid confusion in the self
reflection process, and encourages them to develop and externalise reflective thoughts,
with a shared language and shared understanding amongst the professional
community within their own teaching training institutions (Borko, Michalec, Timmons
& Siddle, 1997; Costa & Kallick, 2000; Parsons & Stephenson, 2005).

Researchers in the field of teacher education, including Cook and Duquette (1999),
Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (1992), Joram (2007),
LaBoskey (1993), Parsons and Stephenson (2005), Posner (2005), and Weiss and Weiss
(2001), suggest various frameworks for guiding student teachers to self reflect on their
teaching performance. Even though these guiding frameworks vary in scope and
focus, they all aim for student teachers to undertake self reflection on teaching
performance, with particular attention to the issues about deciding pedagogical
contents and teaching activities, selecting learning resources and assessment methods,
addressing learning diversity and classroom interaction, and making reflective practice
and professional development.

Amongst these guiding frameworks, the work by Cook and Duquette (1999) is the
most representative guiding framework for four reasons: it is developed by teaching
professionals in the field of teacher education; it targets all student teachers regardless
of speciality area; it has a balanced content covering all the key areas of teaching
competence; and it has a systematic and precise classification of dimensions for self
reflection. This guiding framework directs student teachers to self reflect on their
teaching performance in terms of four dimensions. The first dimension, “Curriculum
planning and evaluation”, focuses on the issues of lesson preparation. The second
dimension, “Pupils and pupil-teacher interactions”, relates to the issues of student-
teacher relations. The third dimension, “Discipline and classroom management”,
focuses on the mastery of discipline skills. The fourth dimension, “Professional
knowledge”, relates to the mastery of teaching strategies (Cook & Duquette, 1999).

In addition to the provision of guiding framework for self reflection, the opportunity
to use video based technology is also considered to be constructive for student teachers
to undertake quality self reflection (Dymond & Bentz, 2006; Freese, 1999; Lin, Hmelo,
Kinzer & Secules, 1999). Researchers such as Freese (1999), Robinson and Kelley (2007),
and Sherin and van Es, (2005) consider that videos taken during lessons in teaching
practice are trustworthy data for student teachers to make a post-lesson self reflection
that is grounded in the actual records rather than uncertain recollections. The studies
by these researchers also find that student teachers show significant growth in the
levels of reflective thoughts about their teaching work, under a guiding framework for
self reflection, after browsing video recordings of lessons in teaching practice. The use
of videos is thus considered to be helpful in enhancing the depth and quality of self
reflection by student teachers.

Video recordings of lessons in teaching practice can provide student teachers with
specific information for the analysis and evaluation of their classroom teaching
performance, from an observer perspective, with an unlimited access. The creation of
electronic platforms for student teachers to store videos of lessons in teaching practice
and add comments on teaching performance is one of the possible approaches to
promoting the depth and quality of self reflection (Calandra, Brantley-Dias & Dias,
2006; Sherin & van Es, 2005). It is because such electronic platforms allow student
Kong, Shroff and Hung 547

teachers to externalise their reflective thoughts, based on the accurate video recorded
data from teaching practice activities. This approach allows student teachers to actively
construct applicable knowledge about classroom instruction, develop reflective
practices on their teaching work, and take responsibility for their own learning
(Munby, Russell & Martin, 2001; Struyk, Kinder, Cole, Best & Smith-Shank, 1995).

The use of web enabled, video based systems, which make the production, transition
and retrieval of video data executable through the use of virtualisation and remote
access software for delivering applications over a network and the Internet, can
support student teachers to gain a valuable, learner centred experience in reflective
activities for self evaluation of teaching performance (Jonassen, Davidson, Collins,
Campbell & Haag, 1995; Freese, 1999; Robinson & Kelley, 2007; Schauble, Raghavan &
Glaser, 1993). With the provision of a template for self reflection on a dimensional
basis, student teachers can reflect purposefully on their teaching performance after
each lesson in teaching practice by browsing the corresponding video clips (see Figure
1).

Figure 1: A four-dimension framework for guiding student teachers to undertake
post-lesson self reflection with the use of video technology

Criteria for the design of the web enabled video system
The literature review indicates that there is a positive potential for student teachers to
undertake self reflection on teaching performance with the use of video technology.
However, there are three limitations in conventional practices for student teachers' use
of video technology for self reflection purposes. Firstly, student teachers usually lack
an easily accessible, multi-function platform for producing, browsing and managing
accurate and systematic records of teaching performance (Calandra et al., 2006;
Dymond & Bentz, 2006). Secondly, student teachers usually lack a comprehensive
framework with standardised vocabulary for self reflection on teaching performance
(Joram, 2007; Weiss & Weiss, 2001). Thirdly, student teachers usually lack a convenient
tool for supporting the management of experiential learning evidence and
operationalisation of their self reflection process (Robinson & Kelley, 2007; Sherin &
van Es, 2005). These limitations may result in a variation in the depth of self reflection
of student teachers, which may affect the formulation of proper teaching belief and
pedagogical practice in their future instructional work (Munby et al., 2001).
548 Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2009, 25(4)

With the goal of improving the teaching performance of student teachers, a dual
function, web enabled system utilising video technology is being developed for
enhancing the quality of self reflection by student teachers and teaching supervision
by teaching supervisors. This article reports on its development and the use of a four-
dimension guiding framework. The study reported here is based upon the premise
that student teachers engage in deeper reflection on their teaching work, after
browsing videos of lessons in teaching practice and externalising their post-lesson
reflective thoughts. In response to the three limitations in conventional practices for
student teachers undertaking self reflection with the use of videos, there were three
criteria for the design work:

1. The system should provide an easily accessible, multi-function platform for student
teachers to self monitor video and audio recordings of classroom situations, during
their teaching practice activities, without assistance from other people.
2. The system should provide a guiding framework for student teachers to underake
self reflection on teaching performance when browsing video recordings of their
teaching work, free from the constraints of time and location.
3. The system should provide a convenient tool for student teachers to build a
collection of experiential learning evidence, and externalise reflective thoughts in
terms of important aspects of teaching practices, for a substantial and systematic
reflection on their own teaching performance.

Architecture for self monitoring classroom recording
A web enabled video and audio recording system was designed to support self
reflection on action by student teachers. The architecture of the system enables student
teachers to take responsibility for self production of actual records of their teaching
practice activities. The system was installed in classrooms for student teachers to
record their teaching performance in a self monitoring manner. Figure 2 shows the
classroom set up of the video system.

The system consists of three components. The first component is wireless Internet
Protocol (IP) cameras, two being wall mounted in the designated classroom in the
placement school for video recording. The first IP camera was installed at the back of
the classroom, facing the blackboard, to capture the teaching performance of the
student teacher. The second IP camera was installed beside the blackboard, facing the
students of the placement school, to capture student reactions to the teaching work of
the student teacher. The second component of the system is digital microphones. The
first microphone is for attaching to the clothing of the student teacher and the second
was installed above the blackboard, for audio recordings to accompany the video
recordings. The third component of the system is a notebook computer, set up in the
teaching console for student teachers to self monitor the recording during a practice
teaching session.

A software system with a one stop interface for controlling the operation of the
wireless IP cameras and the transmission of recorded data was purchased for
supporting the self monitoring classroom recording. After customisation, it was
installed in the notebook computer for student teachers. This addresses the design
criterion that student teachers should be able to use the system for classroom recording
without assistance from other people. The interface includes clear icons for the easy
control of all necessary shooting functions of the two wireless IP cameras. Student
Kong, Shroff and Hung 549

teachers can start recording, zoom in and out on the teaching console or student seats,
pan across the classroom, stop recording and save video clips by simply pressing the
relevant icons on the interface. The videos are uploaded to the video server, displayed
and simultaneously saved on the notebook computer, as the session proceeds.

Figure 2: The classroom set up for the web enabled video system

Through the interface, student teachers are allowed to browse the uploaded videos
from two different angles in the classroom. There are three screens in this interface:
two smaller screens are vertically located on the right hand side of the interface to
550 Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2009, 25(4)

display the classroom situations from the angles at the back of the classroom and
beside the blackboard, respectively; one larger screen is centrally located in the
interface to display the classroom situation from one of these two angles selected by
the student teacher. This helps student teachers to manipulate the shooting process of
the wireless IP cameras based on the real time video displays on the notebook
computer. Figure 3 shows the one stop interface for self monitoring of the video
recording.

Figure 3: The one stop interface for self monitoring of the video recording

In addition to storage in the notebook computer used, the data is copied to a video
database located at a video server in the remote site via the intranet of the placement
schools and the Internet. For privacy reasons, the video data for individual student
teachers is stored in a video database for which each student teacher has an individual
account for login purposes. Student teachers can access only the video clips that
capture their own practice teaching. This enables student teachers to conveniently
obtain and keep a systematic collection of the experiential learning evidence in their
teaching activities, for reflection at a later stage, without following any complicated
procedures. Thus it facilitates student teachers' self reflection on action after the
teaching practice activities.

The recording system was developed with two criteria: recording of classroom
activities is user centred to the extent that student teachers can manipulate the process
according to their needs for particular instances; and data storage is very convenient,
so that student teachers are not required to upload videos manually onto the database
after a practice teaching session. To address the first criterion, the system is designed to
instantly display the video data on the notebook computer of the student teacher. This
requires 2 Mb/s of bandwidth capacity for sending the data from the input devices
(i.e., the two wireless IP cameras and the two digital microphones) in the classroom
through the intranet of the placement school to the Internet, and 2 Mb/s more of the
bandwidth capacity for concurrently transferring data from the Internet to the
notebook computer in the classroom for the real time video display (see Figure 4).
Kong, Shroff and Hung 551

Figure 4: The transmission of video recorded data in the system

To address the latter criterion, the system was designed to simultaneously copy the
data to the video server for data storage. This needs 2 Mb/s of the bandwidth capacity
for sending data from the input devices in the classroom to the video server through
the intranet of the placement school and then the Internet. As shown in Figure 4, it in
turn takes a multiple of 6 Mb/s of the bandwidth capacity of the placement schools to
support the simultaneous operation of the designed system in more than one
classroom.

Feature for self reflection under a guiding framework
One of the key features of the system is the provision of a guiding support for the
online self reflection. This addresses the design criterion that student teachers should
be able to perform self reflection under a guiding framework in browsing video
recordings of their teaching work. A four-dimension guiding framework was adopted
to support self reflection on action, and thereby provoke self reflection in action. This
feature aims to guide student teachers to discern essential criteria for substantial
reflection on teaching performance, and therefore stimulate them to construct their
own mental model of educational philosophy and teaching practices, based on field
experience. The guiding framework was designed by drawing on the most
representative self reflection framework discussed in the previous sections. To prevent
student teachers from getting lost in the self reflection process, the categories of
evaluation dimensions and the list of evaluation items provide explicit prompts for self
reflection. These prompts help student teachers to precisely externalise their reflective
thoughts.

The four dimensions in the guiding framework address a mix of issues about cognitive
competence and affective knowledge required by teaching professionals. The first
552 Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2009, 25(4)

dimension, “Curriculum planning and evaluation”, focuses on the ability to set
learning objectives, select instructional contents and plan learning activities. Five
evaluation items, “Learning objectives”, “Content knowledge”, “Choice of content”,
“Structuring of learning activities” and “Lesson plan” are devised. The second
dimension, “Pupils and pupil-teacher interaction”, relates to the issues of teaching
attitude and teacher-student relationship. Three evaluation items, “Attitude in
teaching”, “Relationship with learners” and “Catering for learner differences”, are
included. The third dimension “Discipline and classroom management” focuses on the
capability of managing resources, environments and strategies for teaching and
learning. Three evaluation items “Management of learning environment”, “Selection
and use of resources” and “Implementation of teaching and learning strategies” are
made. The fourth dimension, “Professional knowledge of teaching”, relates to the
issues of assessment method, feedback provision and classroom interaction. Four
evaluation items, “Using assessment to enhance learning”, “Providing feedback”,
“Verbal and non-verbal communication” and “Classroom interaction”, are included.
The electronic self reflection forms for the guiding framework incorporates these
dimensions into the web based video system.

The electronic self reflection forms (Figure 5) provide self rating functions to guide
student teachers to articulate their perception of their practice teaching performance in
a structured manner. Radio buttons for the ranking of “Distinction”, “Credit”, “Pass”
and “Fail” are offered for convenient online self evaluation of teaching performance
under an itemised approach. The electronic self reflection forms also provide text entry
boxes for student teachers to self evaluate their teaching performance in an
unstructured manner by entering additional reflective statements.

To support student teachers to substantially and flexibly develop reflective practices on
teaching work according to their own needs, the system provides two versions of
electronic forms for self reflection, namely “Before video browsing” and “After video
browsing” version. The difference between the two versions is that the columns
“Reflections” and “Overall reflections” in the “After video browsing” version allow
student teachers to insert video links in addition to textual comments.

The system requires student teachers to complete the “Before video browsing” form
prior to online access to the video database. Student teachers are requested to make
self reflection on their teaching performance, before browsing their videos. This
ensures that the student teachers make self reflection on action, both before and after
browsing videos. Afterwards, student teachers can access the online video browsing
platform to view videos of lessons in teaching practice. After browsing, student
teachers are allowed to complete the “After video browsing” version of the self
reflection form via two approaches. Student teachers can open a blank “After video
browsing” form to enter their reflective statements, or they can fill in an “After video
browsing” form based on their completed “Before video browsing” form, which is
permanently unchangeable and is stored in the system for subsequent retrieval.

The video bookmark function
Another key feature of the system is a video bookmark function for the
operationalisation of reflective process. This feature addresses the design criterion that
student teachers should be able to collect a pool of experiential learning evidence and
externalise reflective thoughts in terms of the important aspects in teaching practices
Kong, Shroff and Hung 553

Figure 5: The electronic form designed for self reflection
by student teachers after teaching practice activities

for substantial reflection. Student teachers can "bookmark" a segment of video clips
concerning noteworthy teaching behaviours, and then enter their corresponding
reflective statements and future emergency responses on their teaching performance as
depicted in that particular video segment. The system allows student teachers to store
more than one bookmarked video segment for an individual self reflection dimension,
554 Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2009, 25(4)

and add a certain bookmarked video segment to the column for “Reflection”, for more
than one self reflection dimension in the electronic form (see Figure 6). Student
teachers are also allowed to delete the bookmarked video segments at a later stage.

With the assumption that student teachers make a deeper reflection on their teaching
performance after browsing videos of lessons in teaching practice, the video bookmark
function encourages them to experience the difference in the depth of self reflection
with different availabilities of concrete teaching evidence before and after video
browsing. Self reflection with video bookmarking helps to stimulate student teachers
to discern and subsequently realise the teaching behaviours considered important for
their future teaching work. The video bookmark function creates a self directed
learning opportunity for student teachers to interpret their teaching behaviours deeply,
systematically reframe their teaching experiences, and actively refine their teaching
practices via a learner centred approach. This feature helps student teachers to keep a
collection of evidence for learning that reveals concretely the strengths and weaknesses
of their teaching performance, and prompts them to operationalise the process of self
reflection on their teaching practices.
Kong, Shroff and Hung 555

Conclusion
Self reflection on performance after student teachers' practice activities is considered to
be a critical approach to supporting the development of teaching quality. The use of
video based technology is considered advantageous to student teachers in making in
depth self reflection on their teaching performance. With the goal of sharpening the
teaching competence of student teachers, this article reported the architecture and
features of the web enabled video system that fosters self reflection on teaching
performance, using a four-dimension framework. The system assists student teachers
to self produce a real time record of teaching work, undertake systematic self reflection
based on videos of teaching practice activities, and manage an accurate and systematic
record of teaching performance without being constrained by time and location.

An empirical study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of the system for
fostering self reflection by student teachers on their teaching performance. A number
of student teachers who were taking undergraduate programs with various subject
specialisations were invited to participate in a two-round teaching activity involving
the use of the system. In each of the two rounds of teaching activity, the students were
asked to use the system to self monitor their recording of the classroom situation
during the practice teaching, and undertake primary self reflection on their teaching
performance based on the guiding framework. After the second round of teaching
activity, the invited student teachers were individually interviewed about their views
on the appropriateness and usability of the system, and their perception of the changes
in the self reflection process with use of the system.

From the preliminary data, two implications are drawn for the use of the system in the
real classroom environment. The first issue relates to collaborative support from the
stakeholder groups in the placement schools. Prior to planning for use of the system
for in class video recording, the teacher training institution should seek approval from
the principals of the placement schools for the installation of the system in school
classrooms. Consents from teachers and parents need be obtained for the use of the
system in practice teaching activities. At the beginning of each lesson, students in the
placement schools should be informed about the use of the system for classroom
recording. These initiatives help to reduce the uncertainty and interference that may be
caused by the use of the system in real classroom environments.

The second issue is related to orientation work for student teachers, prior to practice
teaching involving use of the system. Teacher training institutions should inform
student teachers clearly about the rationale and process, and also remind them about
the potential benefits and noteworthy issues, when using the system to scaffold the self
reflection process. These initiatives help to increase student teachers’ interest in and
willingness to use the system.

Every teacher training institution has an in house framework for evaluation of the
teaching competence of student teachers. Teacher training institutions may fine tune
the list of self evaluation criteria in the system's electronic self reflection forms,
according to their own frameworks. The teacher education sector can therefore
capitalise on the use of the system, which enables student teachers to self reflect on
their teaching performance, from the perspectives of an insider in the teaching
profession. This contributes to a consistent quality control work on the teaching quality
of student teachers.
556 Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2009, 25(4)

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the support of a research grant from the Hong
Kong Institute of Education for the project “A study analysing reflections of student
teachers on using a web enabled, self monitoring video system in classroom for
enhancement of teaching quality”.